Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to data compression technology, and more particularly, to data compression methods and devices for data compression acceleration and for compensation of a data compression ratio lost during the data compression acceleration.
Data compression technology is generally utilized to increase an effective data transfer rate and/or an effective data storage capacity in communication devices and/or data storage devices. In addition, since data compression reduces the amount of data to be stored in a data storage device (e.g., a flash storage device), the number of writes and/or the number of reads in the storage device is decreased, thereby increasing the life expectancy of the storage device.
Generally, data compression can be categorized as lossless compression or lossy compression. Lossless data compression is characterized by an exact regeneration of original data, whereas lossy data compression allows for an approximation of the original data.
Examples of lossless data compression algorithms include techniques referred to as “LZ77” and “LZ78,” which were disclosed in papers written by Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv in 1977 and 1978. Another example of a lossless data compression algorithm is referred to as “LZW” or Lempel-Ziv Ross Williams (“LZRW”), which was disclosed in a paper by Abraham Lempel, Jacob Ziv, and Terry Welch in 1984.